Glossary

(A) indicates an Arabic word. (T) indicates Tamil.

alhamdu lillah  (A)

All praises to You. The glory and greatness that deserves praise is Allah. You are the One responsible for the appearance of all creations. Whatever appears, whatever perishes, whatever receives benefit or loss all is yours. I have surrendered everything into Your hands. I remain with hands outstretched, empty, and--helpless. Whatever is happening and whatever is going to happen is all Yours.

Lit.: All praise is to and of Allah!

Amin (A)

So be it. May He make this complete.

amma (T)

Mother

As Salamu 'alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh kulluhu (A)

May the peace of God and His beneficence be upon all of you!

Bismillahir-Rahmanir Rahim (A)

Bismillah: Allah is the first and the last. The One with the beginning, and the One without beginning. He is the One who is the cause for creation and for the absence of creation, the cause for the beginning and for the beginningless.

Ar Rahman: He is the King. He is the Nourisher, the One who gives food. He is the Compassionate One. He is the One who protects the creations. He is the Beneficent One.

Ar Rahim: He is the One who redeems; the One who protects from evil, who preserves and who confers eternal bliss; the Savior. On the day of judgment and on the day of inquiry and on all days from the day of the beginning, He protects and brings His creations back to Himself.

Lit.: In the name of God, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate.

gnani (T)

A man of wisdom; one who has gnanam; one who has received the qualities and wisdom of God by surrendering to God and who lives in a state of peace and equality where he sees all lives as equal; one who has attained the state of peace.

'ibadat (A)

Prayer; worship and service to the One God.
In the many languages there are many common words such as prayer, pujas, meditation, and worship. In Arabic the term is 'ibadat. But true 'ibadat is when the heart melts like molten wax and is in prayer to the One God. Only that state can truly be called prayer.

ill-Allahu (A) See: La ilaha il-Allahu

Absolute, complete and unshakable faith, certitude, and determination that God alone exists; the complete acceptance of the heart that God is One.

karma (T)

The inherited qualities formed at the time of conception; the qualities of the essences of the five elements; the qualities of the mind; the qualities of the connection to hell. The qualities and actions of the seventeen puranas arrogance, karma, maya [illusion]; tarahan, singhan, and suran, the three sons of maya representing the sexual energies; the six intrinsic evils of lust, anger, miserliness, attachment, fanaticism, and envy; and the five acquired evils of intoxication, obsession, theft, murder, and falsehood.

La ilaha ill-Allahu (A)

There are two aspects: La ilaha is the manifestation of creation [sifat]. Ill-Allahuis the essence [dhat]. All that has appeared, all creation, belongs to La ilaha. The One who created all that, His name is AIIahu. ''Other than You there is no God. Only You are Allah. '' To accept this with certitude, to strengthen one's iman, and to affirm this Kalimah--this is the state of Islam.

Lit.: There is nothing other than You, Only You are God.

maya (T)

Illusion; the unreality of the visible world; the glitters seen in the darkness of illusion; the 105 million glitters seen in the darkness of the mind which result in 105 million rebirths.
Maya is an energy or sakti which takes on various shapes, makes man forfeit his wisdom, and confuses and hypnotizes him into a state of torpor. It can take many, many millions of hypnotic forms. If man tries to grasp one of these forms with his intellect, he will see it but he will never be able to catch it, for it will take on yet another form.

qalb (A)

The heart within the heart of man; the inner heart. His Holiness explains that there are two states for the qalb and four chambers. The four chambers are earth, fire, air, and water, representing Hinduism, Fire Worship, Christianity, and Islam. Inside these four chambers there is a flower, the flower of the qalb, which is the divine qualities of God. It is the flower of grace. His fragrance exists only in this qalb. The four chambers are black, they are really the dog [kalb], the black dog which is the world, the thought of the world and the five elements. But Allah's truth and His fragrance is that flower of the heart. That is the kingdom of Allah's church or mosque. There are some who worship in the darkness and some who worship in the light. Those who worship within that flower worship in the light. One section is light and the other four are night.

Qutb (A)

Divine wisdom, divine analytic wisdom, the wisdom which explains; that which measures the length and breadth of the seven oceans of desires; that which awakens all the truths which have been destroyed and buried in the ocean of illusion; that which awakens true iman; that which explains the state of purity to each life in the same way that it existed in the beginning of creation. The grace of the essence of God, which gives the life of purity back and which makes it into the divine vibration.

It is also a name which has been given to Allah. He can be addressed as Ya Qutb or Ya Quddus [the Holy One]. Quddus is His wilayat [power or miracle], while Qutb is His action. Wilayat is the power of that action.

Lit.: axis, axle, pole, pivot. A title used for the great holy men of Islam.

God; the Lord; the Creator and Protector.

Apostle or messenger. One who has wisdom, faith in God, and good qualities. One who behaves with respect and dignity toward his fellow man. A rasul is one who has accepted only God and has rejected everything else, one who has accepted God's divine words, His qualities and actions and puts them into practice. Those who from time immemorial have been giving the divine laws of God to the people. Those who have such a connection with God have been called a prophet [nabi] or rasul. The name rasul has been given even to the angels.

Ya Rasul or the Rasulullah is a name given to Prophet Muhammad (Sal.)

Inner patience; to go within patience, to practice it, to think and reflect within it.

Sabur is that patience deep within patience which comforts, soothes, and alleviates mental suffering. The next stage is shukur, or contentment. Shukur is deep within sabur, pacifying and comforting. Even deeper within shukur, still more soothing and comforting, is tawakkal-Allah, absolute trust in Allah. And deep within tawakkal-Allah, giving comfort and contentment, is Al hamdu lillah--surrendering all responsibility to Him. "There is nothing left in my hands." Total surrender. "I have given up everything, I am helpless, I am undone."

Sabur, shukur, tawakkal-Allah, al hamdu-lillah--these are the treasures of iman. The wealth of patience is the preface to iman and is the exalted wisdom in the life of a true man. To possess these four and to act by them are the four most important duties [fards] for Iman-Islam.

Ya Sabur-- one of the 99 names of Allah. God, who is in a state of limitless patience, forgives the faults of His created beings and continues to protect them.

Contentment; the state within the inner patience known as sabur; that which is kept within the treasure chest of patience. Ya Shakur-- one of the 99 beautiful names of Allah. To have shukur with the help of the One who is Ya Shakur, is true shukur.

Absolute trust and surrender; handing over to God the entire responsibility for everything. Same as Allahu Wakil--You are my Trustee, my Lawyer, my Guardian.